Foster Plumbing & Heating

Sarahbeth S.

EDITED TO ADD: Really impressed by the follow-up by Jennifer of the company, who called me at home and made it clear they wanted to make this situation right. I'm impressed by her customer service and have changed my review stars, as she made it clear that this was an aberration and they wanted to make things right. She offered her personal cell phone to arrange any future service, and that type of attention to remedy an unhappy customer speaks highly of how they do business.

ORIGINAL:

Wildly incompetent and a waste of our time to hire them. My husband understands plumbing, but works long hours and was trying to ""buy back time"" by hiring a professional to finalize a toilet kit repair. We hired Foster based on reviews on Angi's List (wish I'd looked here instead, as they're more accurate)... and they sent out someone who was so weirdly patronizing for also being so incompetent.

When my husband explained that there was already a new kit installed and it was mostly complete, but there was a small leak that needed finalized tightening, the plumber didn't even get down on the ground to inspect the back of the stool. He just informed us we needed a ""major rebuild"" and a new toilet. WHAT?!?! I sincerely don't know if he's just poorly trained and didn't understand the problem or whether he was trying to exploit us. It didn't make sense that he didn't understand the problem, especially when someone was telling him explicitly what was needed. It would've made more sense if he'd investigated the toilet before dismissing what my husband said.

My husband paid for the service call and declined services, and used his lunch break to fix the toilet completely (no new parts nor rebuild necessary) and install faucets.

The plumber had also quoted $299 each for the two faucets replaced, which is the HIGH end of average costs. I don't mind paying more for quality work, but someone without a basic understanding of a toilet leak shouldn't be charging high market value for their work. We were quoted $920.34 for 3 tasks that took an accountant less than 1.5 hours to complete, without any formal plumbing training. That's not okay.

Beyond that, I'm completely unimpressed with the management. Before posting a negative review, I make sure to go directly to management and see what they'd like to do to fix the frustration. Shawna (sp?) kept saying ""I understand what you're saying,"" but clearly didn't. She kept talking about there being set prices for parts. WE DIDN'T NEED PARTS. Evidenced by it being fixed without ANY new item -- just time and paying attention. She also kept defending how qualified he was, but that makes no logical sense if someone non-certified can have a better and quicker understanding of how to fix the problem.

There are too many other reliable, qualified, reasonably priced plumbers out there. I will never do business with this one again. They might have other good plumbers, but our guy was not one of them.

Ramon M.

I have a service contract with this company that is supposed to give us priority for their scheduling and a discount on their service calls.

I recently called them to have someone check why the upstairs bedrooms weren't cooling enough. They sent a very friendly technician who said that that we need to have a damper installed. He wrote it up on the invoice and indicated that someone would call me to schedule it. I was charged for the call even though nothing was fixed.

No one ever called and I never got that discount they had promised for the service call.

Since then I have called them three times to have the damper installed. Each time the receptionist told me that they would have the manager prepare the estimate and call me back.

They never called back.

My recommendation, stay away from this company.

Kathryn M.

They charged over $900 for a two man team to do less than three hours of work. They installed two standard Delta bathroom faucets and a Kohler toilet--all supplied by me and at the premises when they arrived. I did not get an estimate in advance and was shocked by the charge. In addition, one plumber gouged the vanity countertop when installing one of the sinks, causing several deep and noticeable marks. The manager later came to our home and inspected the countertop. He said the plumber who damaged it was no longer with the company. The manager also said he would have the countertop repaired. The manager is currently working with a contractor to arrange for repair or replacement.

Thomas P.

My mother has used this company maybe 2 or 3 times and has been highly disappointed with the lack of communication and doing a quick job rather than doing the job correctly. About a month ago after her checkup for the year we called back because our Hvac unit was still having issues after it was checked out, so they sent a man the next day who was rude, did not wear a mask, left dirt on her floor. I called the next day to speak to Holly or Harly and she was the absolute worst customer service manager ever. DONT USE THIS COMPANY, plenty of better, reliable, family business that will help. I've been waiting for a call from Jeff for a long time but clearly the owner doesn't care.

Dan B.

My mother has used there service once before and has nothing but bad things to say about this company. She's elderly and for a company that claims 24 hour emergency service, absolute false advertising. I spoke to harly once before and she knew what she was talking about but came off entirely rude after having to send a technician back a 3rd time to fix what they should have taken care of the first time!. They clearly pick and choose who they want to help in that office. Better off contacting howells or any other local. This company isn't worth the money.

Woody a.

Fosters is always on point. Heat pump went out, called the next morning 7:30 spoke to a young lady, very nice, explained my situation. She set up a service call, said tech will call 30mins out, which he did. Tech arrived 11:30, very professional, masked up per covid, did some trouble shooting, found the issue, fixed it. I was back up and running a couple of hours. Very Thankful for the fast and courteous service. I have and will continue to Highly recommend Fosters to anyone with heating and plumbing needs.

Rich G.

GOOD STUFF
1. They used quality materials for my HVAC installation.
2. The ppl who perform their scheduling are courteous and friendly.

BAD STUFF
1. A few months after our HVAC installation, a Fosters tech looked at our top-floor HVAC unit to see why one of our rooms wasn't getting any air. He asked, ""who's the idiot that wired this mess?"" I told him all work was performed by various Fosters techs. He replied, ""never mind... I'll re-wire it all myself"". This criticism of his fellow Fosters employees didn't inspire confidence.
2. A year or two after installation, we realized too much air was going to our guest room stealing airflow from higher priority rooms. Fosters corrected it and charged me. Wasn't cheap. Fosters should have gotten our installation right the first time or correct the mistake they caused themselves at no cost.
3. A crew was sent to my house at 5pm one Friday to complete a job. The crew were clearly exhausted upon arrival and so eager to go home that they told me the job was done when it clearly wasn't; and the crew left an exhaust running 24/7 -- putting the motor at risk of burning out. Good thing I spotted it.
4. One of the Fosters managers and I appear to remember our conversation differently about one of the work orders. Good thing I have what we agreed upon in writing.
5. Every company will make mistakes from time to time. In my experience, Fosters never once owned the problems they caused or apologized for their errors. Not good business practice.
6. An example of Fosters work is in the attached pic. Unfortunately, that's in plain view next to our HVAC unit in our attic storage area. Speaks for itself.
7. They aren't reliable with their appointments. if one of their techs calls in sick, it sinks their whole operation.
8. I had to buy an upgraded master controller when I went from 3 zones to 5. They took my old controller (which works fine and is worth $) without my permission.
9. There's more... but you get the point.

TIPS
1. Check every room of your house immediately after they perform a whole-house installation to determine if they got the air flow right before Fosters calls the job ""done"". Better for them to correct any problems right away while under warranty, otherwise they'll charge you to fix it later.
2. Get your work order in writing and be explicit.
3. Do not accept a service appointment at 5pm on any day unless it's an emergency or super simple.
4. Don't schedule anything that depends on Fosters getting their work done on time.

UPDATE 6/12/20: Yesterday, Fosters was supposed to complete an installation of 2 new zones for our attic. They called me over to the master controller at 6:30pm and said ""ok, job done!"". I asked politely that they prove air is flowing. It turns out, the new 2 zones weren't getting any air AND Fosters managed to knock out 3 other zones. 2 hours of diagnosis later -- and now the house is a boiling 82 degrees, they finally got the 5 zones running by rebooting the system. Ugh. On the next day, I came to realize that the 2 new zones DO NOT WORK no matter how low we set their temps to be at... unless the master bedroom zone is also pumping air. There no point of having zones if they are not independent of one another... so I suspect my wiring job was not done correctly. Also, they didn't install one of the return vents, or install any of the registers for the 2 new zones, or install any filters for the 2 new zones. They were supposed to call me today to finish the job. No one called. Meanwhile, I have 2 zones that do not work correctly and zero filters so who knows what harm Fosters is causing my hvac system. I called their emergency line. No answer. Lowered them from 2 to 1.

Brooke F.

Foster is the best I've found in Richmond. Great service, really good quality technicians who know what they're doing, and fair prices. I'm a huge fan! I just did a plumbing project/ bathroom addition. My sales contact was Matt, service Sheryl & techs Wayne & Lydia. All are fantastic!! I've also used for HVAC and had a great experience. Thanks Foster team ... you guys rock!

Paul N.

On November 8, 2019 I placed a service call to repair my gas furnace. The pilot light would not stay on. I was told I needed a new Gas Valve and I gave the go ahead. For 9 more days I was left without heat throughout my downstairs when temperatures were in the 30s and 40s. When I called their office a few times, I was told the part was still on order. On the 18th I cancelled Foster's return service and called a competitor who made a service call within 2 hours, left for an hour and returned with the Gas Valve he got from a local distributor. I requested a refund for the service call from Foster (it was supposed to be applied to the repair) and got no response.

Tina K.

First visit from Foster Plumbing last week after my clothes washer backed up and flooded all over the floor. Two guys working diligently unclogged the sewer line that ran from my house to the street/county system. The clog was almost at the street and they had to snake through maybe 35-40 feet of pipe to even get to it, then discovered it was complicated by tree roots and had to get through those. $159. Crazy good price for the amount of effort they put in. Will definitely use them in the future.